“We achieved IEC 61508 SIL 4 for the fault avoidance measures during development of the functional safety controller vCOSS S-zero®, a challenging endeavor for this type of equipment,” notes Masahiro Shiraishi, chief engineer at Hitachi. “We used a number of technologies to meet SIL 4 requirements, but equivalence verification using OneSpin’s EC-FPGA and EC-RTL was indispensable.”

EC-FPGA verifies highly optimized field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for autonomous vehicles, aerospace, nuclear power plants, railways and medical devices. It detects and debugs systematic errors introduced during implementation steps, such as synthesis and place-and-route. Using formal sequential equivalence checking technology, EC-FPGA enables an automated verification process that is orders of magnitude more efficient and rigorous than gate-level simulation. For more information, visit onespin.com/fpga.

EC-FPGA has been certified by internationally recognized testing body TÜV SÜD to meet the most stringent tool qualification criteria set by IEC 61508 and derivative functional safety standards. OneSpin’s EC-FPGA Tool Qualification Kit (TQK) documents this certification and helps customers meet safety standards for their own products. For more information, visit onespin.com/tuv.

Leveraging OneSpin’s verification solutions, Hitachi implemented a rigorous and efficient development flow that ensures the final FPGA netlist model implements the requirements expressed in the RTL model.

Unveiled in February, Hitachi’s νCOSS S-zero® is a functional safety controller certified by TÜV Rheinland Industrie Service GmbH that activates safety protection functions in the event of an abnormal situation. The certification confirms the safety controller complies with the requirements for SIL 3 and that measures for fault avoidance comply with the highest-level SIL 4 requirements of the IEC 61508 functional safety standard.

“Working closely with Hitachi to achieve the highest levels of functional safety certification demonstrates the value of a true collaborative relationship,” remarks Colin Mason, OneSpin’s business development manager in Japan. “OneSpin is ideally positioned to provide this type of valuable support along with unique tools for safety-critical FPGAs.”

About OneSpin Solutions

OneSpin Solutions has emerged as a leader in formal verification through a range of advanced electronic design automation (EDA) solutions for digital integrated circuits. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, OneSpin enables users to address design challenges in areas where reliability really counts: safety-critical verification, SystemC/C++ high-level synthesis (HLS) code analysis and FPGA equivalence checking. OneSpin’s advanced formal verification platform and dedication to getting it right the first time have fueled dramatic growth over the past five years as the company forges partnerships with leading electronics suppliers to pursue design perfection. OneSpin: Making Electronics Reliable.

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